Month naming
Whether 10, 12, 13 or any other number of months per year, there have been many schemes of naming them. Many use variations of ordinal numbers, person names or local agricultural features and seasonal festivities, others are completely arbitrary at least from a current perspective. Gregorian calendar, predecessors and successors Existing patterns The Roman, Julian and Gregorian calendars share most of their names and many a minor reform proposal also keeps them, but maybe adds one or changes some lengths and start dates. # Jan'uary' # Febr'uary' # March # Apr'il(is)' # May # June # July # August # Septem'ber' # Octo'ber' # Novem'ber' # Decem'ber' Since many languages, including Latin, mark ordinals with a special morpheme, usually a postfix, these have also become markers for month names, e.g. ''-ber'', ''-(u)ary'' and, less so, ''-il(is). The French Republican calendar generalizes this by marking all months that belong to the same quarter or season with the same ending, which usually has been kept in translations and local adaptations of these names. # Autumn (-aire → -arious; -eezy'') ## Vendémi'aire' (Vintage'arious', Wheezy): September 22/23/24 – October 21/22/23 (30 days) ## Brum'aire' (Fog'arious', Sneezy): October 22/23/24 – November 20/21/22 (30 days) ## Frim'aire' (Frost'arious', Freezy): November 21/22/23 – December 20/21/22 (30 days) # Winter (''-ôse → -ous; -ippy'') ## Niv'ôse' (Snow'ous', Slippy): December 21/22/23 – January 19/20/21 (30 days) ## Pluvi'ôse' (Rainous, Drippy): January 20/21/22 – February 18/19/20 (30 days) ## Vent'ôse' (Windous, Nippy): February 19/20/21 – March 19/20 (30 days) # Spring (''-al; -owery'') ## Germin'al' (Budd'al', Showery): March 20/21 – April 19/20 (30 days) ## Floré'al' (Flower'al', Flowery): April 20/21 – May 19/20 (30 days) ## Prairi'al' (Meadow'al', Bowery): May 20/21 – June 18/19 (30 days) # Summer (''-idor; -eaty'') ## Mess'idor' (Reap'idor', Wheaty): June 19/20 – July 18/19 (30 days) ## Therm'idor', Ferv'idor' (Heat'idor', Heaty): July 19/20 – August 17/18 (30 days) ## Fruct'idor' (Fruit'idor', Sweety): August 18/19 – September 16/17 (30 days) It has been proposed that other month properties could be structurally shown as well, e.g. its length (mostly 30 or 31 days, alternatively 4 or 5 weeks) or position inside a quarter (first, middle, last). Systematic suggestions Although the Roman month names that stem from Latin numerals assume a March start of the year, they have survived the Julian and Gregorian calendar reforms where the start now is in January. Walter Ziorbo’s proposal keeps existing month names where they match the Gregorian ones, i.e. start on he same day of the year and have the same number of days. All other, really new months gain a systematic name either based on a Romance ordinal number or on the corresponding traditional month name. Various alternative suggestions These employ ''-ber'' and Latin ordinals or numerals: * 00 — Null''ber'', Nullo''ber'' * 01 — Un''ber'', Uno''ber''; Prim''ber'' * 02 — Duo''ber'', Du''ber'', Do''ber''; Secund''ber'', Secundo''ber''; Alter''ber'', Alte''ber'', Alto''ber'' * 03 — Tres''ber'', Tre''ber'', Tri''ber'', Tria''ber''; Terti''ber'' * 04 — Quattuor''ber'', Quattor''ber'', Quattur''ber''; Quart''ber'', Quarto''ber'' * 05 — Quinque''ber''; Quint''ber'', Quinto''ber'' * 06 — Sex''ber'', Sexo''ber''; Sext''ber'', Sexto''ber'' * 07 — Settem''ber'', Setem''ber'' * 08 — Octem''ber'' * 09 — … * 10 — Decim''ber'' * 11 — Undecim''ber''; Praevem''ber'' * 12 — Duodecim''ber'' * 13 — Tredecim''ber'' Very systematic 12-month suffix positional proposal Long months (31 days or 5 weeks) all start with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), short months (30 days or 4 weeks) start with a consonant (b, d, f, g, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z), each with a different one and successively advancing in the alphabet, and finally the leap month gets an e added after the suffix: #-us #-as #-is #-ul #-al #-il #-ur #-ar #-ir #-un #-an #-in See also *Alternate month Gregorian calendars (Walter Ziobro) *Alternate month names for use with Symmetry Calendars (Walter Ziobro) Category:Month Category:Reformed Gregorian calendars Category:Nomenclature